NEW YORK -- Those with a hyper-close eye on politics in the Empire State believe a signal may have been sent last week that shale development is coming when a key upstate county official moved to establish an Office of Energy Development.

The county in question is Broome County, which borders Pennsylvania in the western neck of New York and is thought to be rich in natural gas deposits. Many see the move as a way to set the stage for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Broome County Executive Debbie Preston, a Republican, announced that Margaret Scarinzi is her choice to run the new office, assuming the department is approved Thursday by the Broome County Legislature.

Some have said that in tapping Scarinzi, formerly an economic development coordinator of the Broome County Industrial Development Agency, Preston -- a proponent of fracking -- has shown cards suggesting that shale gas drilling is on the way. That would be news to most observers of the state process in Albany, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has been reviewing a fracking moratorium for more than four years and by most accounts still hasn't made a decision.

Many expect Cuomo, a Democrat, to either lift the moratorium or retain it any day, even if he failed to mention the controversial subject during his State of the State address last week. Still, Preston denies the office is exclusively about fracking and said she expects the office to launch a "multiyear" sustainability program for the county.

"If and when the governor and [environmental regulators] approve safe natural gas drilling, the office will offer assistance to involved parties, but until that day comes (or doesn't) there are many specific energy-related missions," Jim Worhach, communications coordinator for Preston, said in an email.

Katherine Nadeau, director of water and natural resources programs at Environmental Advocates of New York, said she hopes Preston is telling the truth about plans for renewable energy development. As for fracking, she said any inclinations to prepare the way are misguided.

"Any motive to advance fracking before the science is complete and Gov. Cuomo determines whether or not it's even safe would be extraordinarily premature," she said. "However, there is enormous potential for this office to set a precedent statewide and nationally if the work undertaken is focused on energy efficiency, renewables and bringing our energy infrastructure into the 21st century."

Kate Sinding, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, acknowledged that some elected officials in Broome County have been out in front of the issue from the pro-drilling end for years. But she added that "many of their constituents remain extremely concerned about the environmental and health risks that fracking represents."

"Should the governor decide to finalize a fracking program for the state, litigation from all sides is a virtual certainty," she said. "Against that backdrop, Ms. Preston's actions are aspirational, nothing more."

The comments came as a rift within the environmental community about fracking continues to be a factor in New York. Yesterday, the New York League of Conservation Voters said in its policy agenda for the forthcoming session in Albany that it would support limited horizontal drilling as long as it is safe and conducted away from sensitive watersheds (Greenwire, Jan. 14).

Another emerging curveball is the state of the Legislature in Albany. A small group of Senate Democrats calling itself the Independent Democratic Conference cut a power-sharing arrangement with Republicans recently, and the IDC appears to be uniformly against drilling.

Richard Schrader, legislative director in Albany for NRDC, said fracking "will be one of several issues that could be divisive" under this power-sharing arrangement.

"As a practical matter, with Democrats sharing the majority leadership and, presumably, chairing some key committees, the overall Senate leadership should be more moderate than it has been in recent years and inclined to seek further protections," he said.

The Broome County votes on the energy office and how to fund it are scheduled for Thursday.